Enhancing the intern pharmacist experience through preceptor development and support

Background: Australian pharmacy graduates must undertake an internship with an approved preceptor and practice site prior to registering as a pharmacist. Preceptors should be adequately prepared for the role; training is recommended (PBA, 2017). To ensure currency, review of preceptor skills should take place (VSG, 2015). To assist preceptors, a university successfully developed and implemented as a pilot, an extensive preceptor support package. A brief overview of this has been previously reported (Vienet et al., 2017).

Objectives: To describe initiatives undertaken by a university to further enhance the intern pharmacist experience through preceptor development and support following pilot of a preceptor support offering.

Methodology: Feedback was sought from key stakeholders, including interns and preceptors, following pilot of a preceptor support offering. Opportunities to further enhance the intern pharmacist experience were identified and included:
* Extending free online clinical educator training for preceptors to include all pharmacists involved in supervising the University’s intern pharmacists and undergraduate students undertaking experiential learning.
* Developing a formal process for preceptors to review and maintain currency of clinical supervision skills and eligibility for re-credentialing as Clinical Educators (CEs).
* Free face-to-face skill enhancement training for CEs.

Results: During 2016/2017, one hundred and forty-nine pharmacists completed the online CE training and became credentialed. Resourcing for the online training programme doubled to meet increased demand. A formal re-credentialing process for CEs was developed. Sixteen CEs undertook face-to-face skill enhancement training.

Discussion: Further initiatives have been developed by the University to enhance the intern pharmacist experience through ongoing preceptor development and support.